Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything

From the Telegraph UK

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

 Have your say      Read comments

An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which has received rave reviews from scientists.

The E8 pattern (left), Garrett Lisi surfing (middle) and out of the water (right)

Garrett Lisi, 39, has a doctorate but no university affiliation and spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii, where he has also been a hiking guide and bridge builder (when he slept in a jungle yurt).

In winter, he heads to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he snowboards. "Being poor sucks," Lisi says. "It's hard to figure out the secrets of the universe when you're trying to figure out where you and your girlfriend are going to sleep next month."

Despite this unusual career path, his proposal is remarkable because, by the arcane standards of particle physics, it does not require highly complex mathematics.

Even better, it does not require more than one dimension of time and three of space, when some rival theories need ten or even more spatial dimensions and other bizarre concepts. And it may even be possible to test his theory, which predicts a host of new particles, perhaps even using the new Large Hadron Collider atom smasher that will go into action near Geneva next year.

Although the work of 39 year old Garrett Lisi still has a way to go to convince the establishment, let alone match the achievements of Albert Einstein, the two do have one thing in common: Einstein also began his great adventure in theoretical physics while outside the mainstream scientific establishment, working as a patent officer, though failed to achieve the Holy Grail, an overarching explanation to unite all the particles and forces of the cosmos.

Now Lisi, currently in Nevada, has come up with a proposal to do this. Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, describes Lisi's work as "fabulous". "It is one of the most compelling unification models I've seen in many, many years," he says.

"Although he cultivates a bit of a surfer-guy image its clear he has put enormous effort and time into working the complexities of this structure out over several years," Prof Smolin tells The Telegraph.

"Some incredibly beautiful stuff falls out of Lisi's theory," adds David Ritz Finkelstein at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. "This must be more than coincidence and he really is touching on something profound."

The new theory reported today in New Scientist has been laid out in an online paper entitled "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" by Lisi, who completed his doctorate in theoretical physics in 1999 at the University of California, San Diego.

He has high hopes that his new theory could provide what he says is a "radical new explanation" for the three decade old Standard Model, which weaves together three of the four fundamental forces of nature: the electromagnetic force; the strong force, which binds quarks together in atomic nuclei; and the weak force, which controls radioactive decay.

The reason for the excitement is that Lisi's model also takes account of gravity, a force that has only successfully been included by a rival and highly fashionable idea called string theory, one that proposes particles are made up of minute strings, which is highly complex and elegant but has lacked predictions by which to do experiments to see if it works.

But some are taking a cooler view. Prof Marcus du Sautoy, of Oxford University and author of Finding Moonshine, told the Telegraph: "The proposal in this paper looks a long shot and there seem to be a lot things still to fill in."

And a colleague Eric Weinstein in America added: "Lisi seems like a hell of a guy. I'd love to meet him. But my friend Lee Smolin is betting on a very very long shot."

Lisi's inspiration lies in the most elegant and intricate shape known to mathematics, called E8 - a complex, eight-dimensional mathematical pattern with 248 points first found in 1887, but only fully understood by mathematicians this year after workings, that, if written out in tiny print, would cover an area the size of Manhattan.

E8 encapsulates the symmetries of a geometric object that is 57-dimensional and is itself is 248-dimensional. Lisi says "I think our universe is this beautiful shape."

What makes E8 so exciting is that Nature also seems to have embedded it at the heart of many bits of physics. One interpretation of why we have such a quirky list of fundamental particles is because they all result from different facets of the strange symmetries of E8.

Lisi's breakthrough came when he noticed that some of the equations describing E8's structure matched his own. "My brain exploded with the implications and the beauty of the thing," he tells New Scientist. "I thought: 'Holy crap, that's it!'"

What Lisi had realised was that he could find a way to place the various elementary particles and forces on E8's 248 points. What remained was 20 gaps which he filled with notional particles, for example those that some physicists predict to be associated with gravity.

Physicists have long puzzled over why elementary particles appear to belong to families, but this arises naturally from the geometry of E8, he says. So far, all the interactions predicted by the complex geometrical relationships inside E8 match with observations in the real world. "How cool is that?" he says.

The crucial test of Lisi's work will come only when he has made testable predictions. Lisi is now calculating the masses that the 20 new particles should have, in the hope that they may be spotted when the Large Hadron Collider starts up.

"The theory is very young, and still in development," he told the Telegraph. "Right now, I'd assign a low (but not tiny) likelyhood to this prediction.

"For comparison, I think the chances are higher that LHC will see some of these particles than it is that the LHC will see superparticles, extra dimensions, or micro black holes as predicted by string theory. I hope to get more (and different) predictions, with more confidence, out of this E8 Theory over the next year, before the LHC comes online."

This is just an ode to The Poop, the Chronicle baby blog (at sfgate.com) that always CRACKS me up! I ripped this one right off their site, so don't sue me!

10 Parenting Commandments You Will Break

Everyone starts out as a good parent. And then they have kids. Here are 10 self-imposed rules you will violate the minute the umbilical cord is cut, based on a thoroughly researched study (i.e. we talked to three people).

I. Thou shalt not watch Teletubbies.
Nearly 98 percent of expectant parents polled swear that they're not going to let their kids watch television. To them we say, just try to get your pants on in the morning without one. Impossible. While scientists may never fully understand the mesmerizing effect annoying men in furry costumes have over toddlers (see also: Elmo, Barney), around here we simply refer to them as "mother's little helpers."

II. Thou shalt not eat Happy Meals.
As nice as it would be to stuff your kid with organic chicken breast, wild brown rice and lightly steamed green beans everyday at lunchtime, the fact is you are going to be out in the world. You are going to be sleep-deprived. You are going to be cash-strapped because you haven't been to the ATM for weeks. In that moment, a little box stuffed with grease, sugar and a little choking-hazard type toy is practically heaven sent (see also: crayons at Pasta Pomodoro, tokens at Chuck E. Cheese).

III. Thou shalt not listen to "Eensy Weensy Spider."
You imagine your toddler grooving to the Beatles, Feist and Daft Punk. They would rather listen to "Ring-Around-The-Rosy," oh, about 857 times in a row. Not only will you surrender but you will also ring around.

Click through for more broken Commandments.

IV. Thou shalt not buy plastic toys.
It's honorable to imagine a house filled with environmentally-friendly wooden balls hand-carved by an Inuit tribe of throat singers in Greenland. If you have any extended family members, however, good luck getting to them while wading through the piles of Fisher Price poppers, Mr. Potato Heads and Weeble-Wobbles that will quickly fill your nursery.

V. Thou shalt not wear pink or blue clothes.
You have exactly 24-months to dress your kid however you want. After that, every morning becomes a painful, drawn-out episode of "What Not To Wear," in which heavily ingrained gender predilections completely outweigh good taste, reason and whatever you say.

VI. Thou shalt not fly.
Anyone that has suffered through a flight on a commercial airliner with a screaming, stinky toddler in the next seat has probably made a secret promise to never be that person. Yeah, good luck with that.

VII. Thou shalt not put stickers everywhere.
You may never buy a single sticker for your kid. You may even go to great lengths to remove all mailing labels and Post-It Notes from your house. Yet one day you will look around and see every available surface covered with rainbows and stars.

VIII. Thou shalt not talk like a 2-year-old.
Have a Ph.D in English? Might as well stick it in the shredder because the minute a baby enters your home, your vocabulary melts into a blur of gurgles, willfully destructive grammar and ESL-level pronunciation skills. "Me no like talk like a wittle baby!" Exactly.

IX. Thou shalt not wear poop as an accessory.
It's a bit self-explanatory, that. But if you're going to be changing diapers, at some point you're pretty much going to get some on you. It's scientific.

X. Thou shalt not. . .
We're leaving this one open for our commenters. We're fairly certain there are a few other idealistic beliefs about parenting - from potty training to playground etiquette - that have gone down the tubes over the years.

Let us hear about them.

On the porch not Sunday
But slow yet.
We stop to ponder
How we exist
Amid the chaos of the everyday

without sunshine or rain
the day threatens to
erase itself from memory
I threaten to disappear
into advanced years with
only brief recollections

once I had dreams
I clamored for more
constantly on the treadmill of
hopes and TKOs

I am like a clam whose shell
has been damaged open
grasping at the edge
for closure

a porch should be a
requirement but not
just for old age
stopping to think
a human endeavor

why does the chirping in trees
the whistles, the flute-like serenade
tell me life is the sum total
of friends, pipes, of moments

do I court death everyday?
in retrospect will I say
anything was worth it?
won’t I cling like all others
to my last breaths?

honestly, the stillness flutters
with an almost imperceptible
grandeur, lost to the
flute-like serenade and whooshing of cars
these are the soundtrack
often overpowered by human noises
too loud, too grand, and
arrogant

we can talk or yell with our lips
we can kiss or spit or ingest
can we repent with our lips?
can we undo with our words
what we do with our hands?

now that bird is both
stalking and mocking me
louder with each chisel of noise
both beautiful and piercing

yes, I hear you are leaving me
yes, I hear that you can fly
while I remain perpetually grounded
yes, you are ever so faint now,
not quieted, simply gone

flowers are equally guilty
fragrant, yes, but also so fleeting
they mock our quest for
longevity. yes, I know, it’s nature

we come, we see, we die.
we grow, we bloom, we wither.
what else could we want and why
do we humans dare think we
are different and we can beat nature?
TKO

I am down, but not out
yet
give me another round or two
please, I beg you

does that mean changing my ways
repenting with my hands
yes
does it mean reinventing my
body in it’s new incarnation?

I may not flutter into stillness
or chirp with a flute for
my throat
I may not offer beauty
with my being,
without being beauty

because, you see,
humans are not beautiful
without trying

not because we are ugly
or sinful
or egregiuos per se,
but because the human endeavor
is to outsmart nature
but always at a cost

children play in the nearby schoolyard
oh how their voices and the shrill sergeant
whistles of their regulators do pierce
the air. Why does children's laughter
always seem lighter than air, buoyed
by wind?

in any case at what age does our
laughter get weighted, our feet rooted
our bodies sunken and decomposing?

at what point did I look in glass
and see someone resembling my mother
and possibly even farther back that that
all of us were small once

delicate creatures fluttering
at the nectar, chirping in mockery of
our elders' shrill sergeant whistles
calling us off of our fun our imaginary
worlds where humans are love and not death

when did I flutter away, leaving my mother
on the porch hearing my flute-like song
receding, mockingly, as I flew farther
and farther away

and somewhere I landed
I bore roots and sank down
I bore fruit and blossoms for
new birds to flutter at with silent stillness
until she leaves, mocking with her
elevated human awareness of life
her song fading, fading, still loud to
someone but soon enough,
unheard by me

This May when my mom was visiting for Mother's Day, we went to the SF Conservatory of Lowers in GG Park! I had never been, but had always wanted to go. Plus, after the big wind storms in 1995 that closed it, it was all wrecked and completely rebuilt! So, I've been wanting to go ever since I heard about it.

PLUS, they had an exhibit on carnivorous flowers...how cool is that? here are some of my photos. find out more at:
http://www.conservatoryofflowers.org/

I tried to post these awhile ago but finally converted them to WAV files...here are some songs I made with GarageBand...another one of my hobbies!

We are awaiting a family invasion: Michelle's dad, my bro, his daughter Gina, and a few days later, my sis and David. I know it will be fun, but time will fly by with nary a moment to pause. With an almost 3 year old, grabbing moments is like a secretive, furtive tryst with ones self. I think that's why I enjoy smoking the pipe. It's a forced slow down and very calming.

Phoenix is great, especially today when she loves me again. I could definitely pull petals from a daisy, "she loves me, she loves me not..." but instead I just ride the waves of her impetuous authority cravings and rejections and learn to love even her most vile outbursts. Afterall, who else will scream and punch at you and then when you scream "OW!" coyly say "sorry" and completely mean it.

Anyway, I had a dream last night that I realized I really had no friends. It's not true, of course, but I was pretty sad and was hoping a childhood friend of mine would call, but I knew she wouldn't. Then I tried calling a friend of mine (in the dream) and she answered but was obviously on the other line and didn't realize she had answered another call...she was railing on about something in her life and I thought to hang up but instead said hi and that it was me. We got off the phone and it was apparent to me we are no longer friends really. Unfortunately that mirrored a feeling I had speaking to said friend earlier in the day.

I guess you can hang on to frienships, but when you really know nothing about each other's lives friendship is in name alone. Oh well.

Phoenix insisted on wearing underrpants today to school, after a long potty-training haitus. Will it be a stinky peepeepoopoo-fest when she comes home? Could be, who really cares anymore? Our lives have been reduced to most bodily functions, but not necessarily the fun ones. I am actually not bitter, just hiding out in my life for awhile.

Sometimes I worry I will wake up one day and realize I am unhappy with my life. But, I don't really think it will happen. Instead I think I am just in the cocoon phase, entering my adult life. I will feel young and hot again. Just not now.

I am outside on my laptop and it's quite nice. Bees a-buzzing. I think we have a nest going here. Taking care of that is top of the list after we win lotto.

I guess that's it for now...

Apollo has been very lethargic and just laying on the couch lately. He stopped eating and therefore wasn't getting his medication for arthritis and dementia ("now where DID i put those dang car keys!??!"). He's an old guy and we were getting worried. He eventually stopped venturing upstairs altogether!
THAT'S WHEN WE SAW IT: POOPSOCK RETURNS! It's the prequel we wish would never happen!

It's been raining off the hook, so poop scopping kind of fell by the way side....a perfect opportunity for recycling snacks (thinks Apollo in his cunning lazy lab way)!
Anyway, there's nothing like a sock (or two, or three) to help clean out the digestive pipes!
Our experts have testified to THREE (read it!) yes, THREE POOP SOCKS currently residing in the yard. No worries, they have been relocated to somewhere they can do no more harm.
Two have been identified. So please look at the line up and see if you recognize and of the socks on the right as the missing 3rd poopsock!

 

Although I have all but given up reading as it requires intelligence, concern for the world, and concentration...I DID read one book in the past month, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. It's an excellent graphic novel that I highly recommend!

Well, I am officially back after a long hiatus!
I'd like to say I was sailing the high seas, travelling the world, or relaxing on the beach in Hawaii, but no such luck!
I was:
–– Running the holiday treadmill so as not to get sucked into the abyss
–– Hanging with my mom who came to visit for 3 weeks!
–– Working my ass off at my job which has a few CRAZY tight deadlines all at once!
–– Living, working, taking care of baby boobhead
–– Oh yeah, and turning 37–ouch!

I have also developed another hobby...I can hear the groans now, but I can't help that some people are obsessive compulsive, and some just obsessive! Lord knows I need to find hobbies to pass the time...

Anyway, I have become enchanted with pipe smoking. I can't help it! I didn't ask for this, nor was I forced....
Anyway, the deal is that I've had a pipe (a cheapie drugstore Dr. Grabow type) that I bought G-d knows when (five six seven years ago??) and would smoke on the old porch from time to time. I got really REALLY into the cigars, and the pipe languished. My beer-brewing/pipe/cigar smoking neighbor kept telling me how he was getting into his pipe so after awhile I pulle dmine out and started looking at forums on the web (spare time!)

Ina ny case, I have purchsed and cleaned a few eBay beauties...cheap for pipes, but all good smokers. One must rest the briar pipes for several days after smoking so more than one is a requisite.
I bought a few samples of tobaccos to try the types/flavors/blends and experiment. That is where the fun lies!
It is like wine tasting kind of. A great and relaxing hobby but, unfortunately, carcinogenic!

Sadly, my guilt complex makes enjoying things difficult but so far I having a good run. I know I can only indulge in bad-for-me hobbies for a limited time and then very rarely, so this is my obsessive period. It is so yummy! So relaxing! Very different from cigars. I LOVE being a piper!

Here are my three eBay pipes! And a few of the tobaccos I am sampling based on recommendations on the forum. Not surprisingly, I like the Captain Black Royal which is a "drugstore" brand, meaning cheap and  aromatic! I do like the fancier, smokier Latakia/Virginia blends, but they are tobaccos for me to grow into. Ahhhhhh.

Yeah! We actually got away for a few days during the week I took off! In a fit of total spontaneity, we met Michelle, Ryan and Camilla in Monterey and spent the night at a place on the beach! The next day we spent at the aquarium!
It was a blast...I think Phoenix liked it too! I love the anchovies, sardines, and of course, those awesome Jellies! And seahorses! How cute!? I mean, what is life like for a sea horse? We also got an amazing glimpse at the face, head-on, of the elusive sunfish! Wacky! Crazy! Unattractive! Did I mention, NOT EASY ON THE EYES?? NOT a LOOKER!?!? (ok, look at the shot with people's heads...for scale of this sucker!)

In any case, our camera battery died so all I got was this stupid t-shirt...no, actually, all I got were these shots from my phone!
meow!